Re: What cologne makes a man seem like a snob?

Back in the day anything by Ralph Lauren was considered upscale preppy. I was in junior high school at the time and the polo shirts were $50 to $80 bucks apiece back in the 80's. I think that's about what they sell at today's prices so that'd be like paying $300 for a shirt today. Flare up the collar and you were GTG. The only thing you would be missing was the smell of Ralph Lauren which was POLO. If you looked the part and smelled the part there was no doubt about it that your parents had money. Ahhh...the memories..

Re: What cologne makes a man seem like a snob?

Please read through the reviews of Blenheim Bouquet. I think you'll find that several of the reviewers address this idea.
I'm not sure I'd agree with them. I think that the historical background of Blenheim influences the way reviewers smell it. But that's a hard thing to prove. Blenheim is a very good fragrance by the way.

Re: What cologne makes a man seem like a snob?

Re: What cologne makes a man seem like a snob?

Originally Posted by barclaydetolly

I don't think this question has any conceivable answer.

I actually think it does... buuuuuuuuut ...the answer will vary from person to person.

Wearing something that smells too upscale can come off as snobbish. It has nothing to do with the price of the scent though. Interlude Man by Amouage costs $280 a bottle. GIT can be had for closer to half of that price. I have samples of each and have been told by pretty much every one of my friends (not perfume heads, btw) that GIT smells either snobbish or conservative and that Interlude Man smells playful or weird, but in a good way. Keep in mind, I live in a very urban downtown and my friends are city dwellers too. Back when I lived in the deep south, GIT would have probably been a big hit there since folks tend to be conservative, and Interlude Man would have been miles over the top.

So... the answer to the original question is, you have to know your audience. For me, the answer is GIT. I don't think it smells snobbish, but I totally understand why my friends think it does.

Re: What cologne makes a man seem like a snob?

Originally Posted by barclaydetolly

I don't think this question has any conceivable answer.

Depends on if you think people who: drive Bentley's, smoke cigars and drink wine that costs thousands of dollars, or in this case wear fragrances that costs more than some people's automobiles (Clive Christian), are snobs. I would say the likely hood is pretty good that they would be if they're full of themselves. So yes the question does have an answer, but to stereotype people is also wrong.

Re: What cologne makes a man seem like a snob?

Every cologne. And no cologne. Inceptioned!

The real answer is that being considered a snob is entirely subjective to others. In my opinion, I'd prefer that the people I know and love who know I like fragrances understand that my hobby comes from a position of appreciation and humility for this under-appreciated art, and not so much from a position of snobbiness. I couldn't give less of a fuck about people I don't know thinking I'm a snob.

Re: What cologne makes a man seem like a snob?

Originally Posted by silentrich

Depends on if you think people who: drive Bentley's, smoke cigars and drink wine that costs thousands of dollars, or in this case wear fragrances that costs more than some people's automobiles (Clive Christian), are snobs. I would say the likely hood is pretty good that they would be if they're full of themselves. So yes the question does have an answer, but to stereotype people is also wrong.

The op specifically said not to consider the house, just the smell. Clive Christian immediately sprang to mind for obvious reasons, but the op said to go by just the smell alone.

In each of your examples, you say that some people presume that that cost equals snobbiness, though that's a stereotype. But you don't know the cost without knowing the brand, which the op said not to consider.

I still think the original question has no answer. But if we're talking about whether I judge people, rightly or wrongly, as snobs based on the brand of cologne they wear (or even the specific cologne), that would have a longer response.

Re: What cologne makes a man seem like a snob?

The op specifically said not to consider the house, just the smell. Clive Christian immediately sprang to mind for obvious reasons, but the op said to go by just the smell alone.

In each of your examples, you say that some people presume that that cost equals snobbiness, though that's a stereotype. But you don't know the cost without knowing the brand, which the op said not to consider.

I still think the original question has no answer. But if we're talking about whether I judge people, rightly or wrongly, as snobs based on the brand of cologne they wear (or even the specific cologne), that would have a longer response.

Lol..yeah I missed the part about the house and label and just read the title of the thread. I'll stick with my original answer of RL Polo because it reminds me of guys with flared collars driving 944 Porsche's, rich bitch high school girls driving VW convertibles, Ted Knight in Caddyshack, and what the inside of those country club locker rooms would smell like.

Re: What cologne makes a man seem like a snob?

Save in terms of examples which might change from moment to moment your question can't really be answered. How a fragrance actually smells and whether or not they like it is probably the least important element when it comes to whether or not a snobbish individual would desire it.

Re: What cologne makes a man seem like a snob?

A cologne by itself is not going to make anyone seem like a snob. Only a person's behavior, possessions, and attitude can do that. I suppose if this hypothetical snob wore a certain cologne all the time, those around him might associate that cologne with snobbishness. But that could be *any* cologne.
So, the question is sort of dumb, actually.

----- People laugh at me because I'm different.... I laugh at them because they're all the same -----

Re: What cologne makes a man seem like a snob?

Originally Posted by Darjeeling

This is probably down to the perceptions and prejudices of the person smelling it/perceiving it as snobby, rather than any inherent characteristic of the scent.

Absolutely. And it goes back to my comment about the importance of knowing your audience. Asking what scent makes a man seem like a snob is a lot like asking what clothes make a man seem like a snob. It's about giving off a vibe that says "I'm better than you" or maybe even "I look down on people like you." It all comes down to the perceptions and prejudices of the observer, not those of the wearer, but hopefully someone who is into perfumes is smart enough to know how different scents can lead to different perceptions.

Choose what fits the occasion. I wouldn't show up to poker night in a tuxedo. Likewise, I wouldn't wear a scent that is more formal or elegant than the occasion calls for (unless I were intentionally going overboard).

Granted, some people don't think about that stuff when choosing a scent to wear. Then again, we all know someone who doesn't think about what clothes they wear either. They wear whatever they like even if it doesn't look good or fit the occasion.

Re: What cologne makes a man seem like a snob?

Snobbish smell is obviously a social construction. When enough people wear certain fragrance and acts snobbish - voilà - that fragrance becomes snobbish. But to be honest, there isn't such fragrance: snobs can wear anything or nothing, so such social construction doesn't exist, atleast not world wide. For example teenagers are much more like-minded when it comes to choosing a fragrance, and also probably apply more liberally, so we have an idea what smells like a teenager.

Re: What cologne makes a man seem like a snob?

Originally Posted by bigsteve

A cologne by itself is not going to make anyone seem like a snob. Only a person's behavior, possessions, and attitude can do that. I suppose if this hypothetical snob wore a certain cologne all the time, those around him might associate that cologne with snobbishness. But that could be *any* cologne.
So, the question is sort of dumb, actually.

Re: What cologne makes a man seem like a snob?

In principle, there's nothing that says wearing a certain fragrance couldn't make you come off as snobbish. It's all about scent memory.

The problem is that fragrances aren't, at least traditionally, segmented by class or attitude. If every snob for some reason used fragrance X and everyone else avoided it, then that scent would probably be associated with snobbishness after a while.

However, most people wear anything. So the only distinctions that seem to have any broader validity are masculine/feminine (because of historic gender marketing) and old/young (because the style of fragrances have changed over the years). Anything else is either purely personal experience (e.g. "this snob I knew always wore fragrance Y") or pure fabrication.

Re: What cologne makes a man seem like a snob?

Originally Posted by silentrich

Back in the day anything by Ralph Lauren was considered upscale preppy. I was in junior high school at the time and the polo shirts were $50 to $80 bucks apiece back in the 80's. I think that's about what they sell at today's prices so that'd be like paying $300 for a shirt today. Flare up the collar and you were GTG. The only thing you would be missing was the smell of Ralph Lauren which was POLO. If you looked the part and smelled the part there was no doubt about it that your parents had money. Ahhh...the memories..

Avoiding all the philosophical angles / societial discourse people are taking, RL Polo (at least at one time) would have come closest to being the answer to the question IMO.

Re: What cologne makes a man seem like a snob?

I think that if you're wearing something that was blatantly not created to be a crowd pleaser, by smelling slightly off to the average schmo you're communicating that you're no mainstreamer and you have a more refined nose than others. I'd bet money that this has been JCE's game plan for years now.